This story is set after 6x13 'the Daredevil in the Mold'. Re-watching it made me feel like I had to write this outcome. B&B, mad Booth, and a happy ending. Note the rating.

Choices in the Evening.

Prologue.

'Those are my only choices?'

He didn't dare meet her eyes. Those were her choices. And frankly, he didn't care which she took. He was mad.

'Yeah, those are your only choices,' he repeated back to her. Staring in to the bar, not looking at anything in particular, his head was spinning. From the alcohol, from everything that had happened. Hannah, Bones. It was just too much. And now she was sitting next to him, while he was hurting, and she was practically asking for a third chance? A third chance to hurt his battered heart? No. No more.

'Then I'll have a drink,' she said decisively and something inside of him was glad. She was the standard. With her there he might just survive this evening, although a different part of his mind reminded him of the fact that she was a big part of the pain he was feeling. Confusion ruled.

They had another shot, and another. She had another just to get even with him, but he stopped with the shots to dwell in his sadness. He put his face in his hands, covering his eyes, wishing the tears would just go away. He wasn't weak. He just couldn't take any more.

'I don't know how to chit chat,' she said out of the blue. 'I don't think I'm very good at it.'

'What?' he said, meeting her eyes for a second before burying his face back into his hands.

'You said we could have small talk or chit chat. I know what it means, but I don't think I'm any good,' she replied quietly. She felt how frail their relationship was at this moment, and she didn't want to hurt it any more than she had already done, but she needed him to talk. She needed to be reassured he'd be fine because the quiet space between them left too many possibilities. As long as they talked she'd know what to do.

'Just.. Talk about the weather or something, I don't know,' he replied, his voice tired. 'I don't care. Don't chit chat, whatever.'

She regarded him quietly, he really was mad. Hannah had called her earlier, and Brennan had been unnerved by the sadness in the journalist's voice. Hannah had told her what had happened, and how Booth had reacted. 'Seeley is heartbroken,' she had said. 'And disappointed. At us, but mostly at himself, I think.' Temperance had known what to do: he needed her. Even if he didn't know it or even if he didn't want her there, she'd sit with him and help him through this. Because not so long ago she had started all of this, because she had turned him down and that had been the beginning of everything. And the ending, if she wasn't very careful right now.

Suddenly, he spoke. 'You said it yourself, I didn't listen. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. I just.. I have now asked three women to be with me for the rest of my life. And they don't want me. That's insanity for you right there. I'm done.'

She felt tears sting in her eyes. She had said that, and he had persisted. It had been so tempting.

'I never said I don't want you,' she dared to whisper.

'No,' he cut in. 'No, stop it. You don't get to talk. You just have a drink.'

She sat up a little straighter because of his words, they cut into her soul. Had he forgotten everything that had happened between them? Had he forgotten... That she loves him? 'I'm sorry,' she managed to whisper.

She didn't have another drink. He didn't order her one. She paid the bill before he could protest and he didn't want to. She walked out of the bar and he followed her, for which she was glad. A cab stopped for them and they both got in, Brennan giving Booth's address to the driver. She'd see him home first.

As he stumbled towards his front door she paid and asked the driver to wait. Then she followed him to where he was fumbling with his keys. 'I got it, Bones,' he said angrily when she tried to help. She let him do it by himself and once the door was open she realized something. This house looked a little empty.

'Hannah left,' she said matter-of-factly. Seeley dropped his head down. 'I don't want to talk about that. Thanks for getting me home, Bones. You can leave now.' He walked towards the couch and barely made it before he stumbled and fell into the cushions. 'I'll see you tomorrow,' he stated.

'I don't think it's wise for you to be here alone,' she said carefully. The alcohol was clouding her judgment only slightly, but she knew he had drunk a lot more than she had. He shouldn't be alone, especially not in the apartment which had been emptied by the woman he had proposed to only a few hours ago. Had she really had that much stuff here? Brennan hadn't even noticed. Then again, she hadn't been here a lot since Hannah had moved in. Booth's rough voice tore her out of her observations. 'Don't do that,' he said. 'Don't act like we're all right.'

She pursed her lips. 'I know you are mad at me. And I understand. But you can sleep on my couch if you want.' It won't remind you of Hannah, she wanted to add but she knew what his response would be. It would remind him of Bones. And at the moment he didn't know which was worse.

'Just... Just leave me alone, Bones. I'll be fine tomorrow. Right now I'm just really… I'm so angry. I don't understand. Just leave me, ok?' He didn't sound sad, or even angry. He almost sounded empty and that was what made the decision so easy for Brennan. She didn't say anything, just locked the door, took off her coat, got her overnight toiletries out of her bag (she always carried those), and headed for his bathroom. Booth just regarded her.

What was she thinking? Boot was sitting on his couch watching Bones go into his bathroom. He had said no, why was she still here? Why didn't she listen, why did she never listen to anything he had to say? Why was she so damned hard not to love? The alcohol had been too much, he'd taken it too far, and that had been his intention. What hadn't been his intention were all the feelings that were boiling to the surface right now. Anger, fear, desperation, but also different things. Desire. Red hot desire that wouldn't be easy to reign in, and he didn't want to. They didn't deserve it.

Brennan was brushing her hair when she looked in the mirror. Behind her she saw two dark eyes watching her. Dark brown eyes, sad eyes, but alive ones. For a moment she froze, and then her brain figured out what would be happening. In a split second she made the decision. If he wanted to, she'd let him.

His brain had made a decision as well. What the hell. She's here, I need this. He pushed her into the counter, trapping her, his eyes still on hers in the mirror. The gasp that came from her mouth was unexpected for both and she dropped her brush to the floor. Booth roughly turned her around. 'You never said you didn't want me, huh. You said there's nothing wrong with me. How come we're not together then?' he asked. 'How come you always retreat? You know what, don't even tell me. I don't want to know. I just want to feel something.'

She met his eyes and fire met ice, although it was burning ice that he saw in her eyes. She knew damn well what would happen if she let him. And he wasn't sure he'd stop if she tried to stop him now. She didn't, and he pushed her into the wall next to the counter. His lips came down roughly on hers, and she kissed him back, tasting tequila, whiskey, and some other alcoholic beverage on his tongue. She had kissed Seeley Booth three times now, but this one was different. This wasn't Seeley Booth. This was a shell, an angry, mad, empty shell that just needed an outlet. And somehow that was the reason why she was willing to provide it.

His hands roamed her body, under her shirt, kneading her breasts through her bra. He wasn't gentle, and he wasn't careful. Pulling her blazer and blouse off he tore a few of the buttons off, but the fire between them was too much for them to register anything else. She also let her hands wander, he needed to feel, she'd make him feel. Her nails dug into his back, and she had to hold back a moan of his name as his fingers found her nipple. He pushed her hands away from him, pushing them against the wall next to her. She offered him her neck, and he took it greedily biting and kissing down to her breasts. Her bra flew to the floor and she was naked from the waist up where he was still fully clothed.

For a millisecond Booth stopped and looked at her, but before reality sank in for either of them, she pulled him back in and grabbed his belt buckle. 'Don't think,' she advised him between waves of desire.

Her entire body felt like it was scorching. He was hurting her, grazing her with his teeth, grabbing, bruising but she didn't care. He needed this. And maybe, so did she. He turned her around and she had to break the impact with his bathroom wall with her arms. Within moments her pants dropped and she hurried to take her shoes off. He threw his shirt to the floor and she'd opened the front of his pants so he just pushed them out of the way. His fingers made contact with her panties and he tore them off her, yanking them apart, leaving another mark on her hipbone. She leaned against the white tiles, giving herself to him, letting him take what he needed. His fingers sought her private parts and she hissed at the feeling of his fingers entering her. He again wasn't gentle, and it didn't take long for him to push his pants down and enter her from behind.

'Hold on, Booth,' she tried to warn him since it had been a while for her, but she knew the attempt itself was stupid. He wasn't listening. The stinging feeling he created as he entered her didn't take long to disappear though, and actually it only added to her desire for him. 'God,' she moaned loudly.

'Don't talk,' he groaned. 'Don't make it real.'

After that, she decided to be quiet and try to give him what he needed. He pushed into her, in a rhythm at first, but then his hand on her back pushed her forward further so he could enter her deeper. His thrusts became harder, more forceful, and more than once she banged her head into her hand or the wall. His hand on her back was keeping her down, and she felt her legs start to give out.

'Come here,' he said roughly when her knees threatened to buckle, and he pulled out of her before moving to the bed. Pulling her down under him he watched her body, her legs, her breasts as he entered her again. She spread her legs as wide as she could, arching her back for him. One of his hands came to fondle her breast, a little softer than before, and she could feel he was close. 'It's ok, Booth,' she whispered to him. 'You can let go.' She knew this was about him, and even though she was aroused, she wouldn't climax this time because he just wasn't present. He was so angry, so mad with the world and with her that he barely registered her presence. She however knew exactly what was happening, and she offered her body for him to take. And take her he did. After another few deep, hard thrusts the moan started deep in his belly. Her hands came around his back and she could feel the rumble move up through his ribcage. 'Ooh,' he groaned. Then, incoherent sounds came from him and with a loud moan and one more deep, forceful thrust he emptied himself deep within her.

She lay still as he came down from his orgasm, not knowing what to do next. They were both drunk, she a little less than he, and this had been a bad idea from the start. So when he rolled down from her and settled under the blankets, shedding the last remains of his clothing and facing away from her in his bed, she stood, gathered her clothing and retreated to the couch. She still wasn't going to leave him tonight.

He fell asleep almost immediately. She didn't, and even though his words and actions hadn't been ones of love she had never felt more connected to Seeley Booth. She felt like she knew him completely now. She'd seen him at his absolute worst, and still, she had enjoyed it. The only thing she was scared of was how he would react once the alcohol and the anger wore off. She had told him once that he would never wake up in the morning, look at her and have regrets. Now, she wasn't so sure. However she wasn't about to leave him.

The driver that had been waiting in front of Booth's apartment had decided to leave after half an hour of waiting. What had happened behind those doors, he didn't know. What he had known was that a man who had had is heart broken had been brought home by a woman, possibly the woman who broke his heart. However in the woman's eyes he had seen so much love, more than he had ever seen before. So therefore he knew, just by having seen her eyes, that the man and woman would be fine. Because everything happens eventually.

Lying on Booth's couch Brennan went over everything that had happened in the past few months. Before she had gone to Maluku he had offered his heart to her and she had rejected it. Why? Because she was afraid of what it meant to be in a relationship. Then, the more she thought about it, the possibilities had over whelmed her. Leaving had been the only option. She'd told him she needed one year, and if their relationship still existed after that year she'd be willing to give it a chance. However, she hadn't told him in those words, and he had gone away and fallen in love again, like he had told her he would. She just hadn't thought it would hurt that much.

Observing Booth with Hannah had helped Brennan realize that maybe just being herself would have been enough for him. But it had been too late and she was still trying to adjust to that. However, right now, she wasn't sure what this all had meant if they had just literally screwed it up. Had they? Was there still a 'they'? She didn't know and it gave her a headache to think about it.

When Temperance Brennan finally fell asleep the first rays of light were touching the sky, and in another room, Seeley Booth was waking up to a bursting white light in his head that made him feel like he was going to explode. And then, a realization. 'Oh my God..'